Dedication: For CRL
after Joni Mitchell, 'Woodstock'.
'Deploying a trademark blend of high and popular culture, history, and memory, Kevin Densley's latest collection strikes out for fresh territory using new and innovative forms. While not dispensing with the arch (and often tart) rollicking historical monologue that distinguishes his earlier work—"Kate Kelly (1863–1898)" being a standout of the form—Densley experiments here with radically minimal sonnets, tanka, and most often a new, pungent satirical squib, detonating with aplomb every few pages. Perhaps more than his earlier collections, too, Macaws takes prolonged and deliberate aim at a personal bugbear: the inanities of the world. It is to Densley's credit that by the collection's end, what might seem individual or idiosyncratic takes on universal resonance.' (Introduction)
'Deploying a trademark blend of high and popular culture, history, and memory, Kevin Densley's latest collection strikes out for fresh territory using new and innovative forms. While not dispensing with the arch (and often tart) rollicking historical monologue that distinguishes his earlier work—"Kate Kelly (1863–1898)" being a standout of the form—Densley experiments here with radically minimal sonnets, tanka, and most often a new, pungent satirical squib, detonating with aplomb every few pages. Perhaps more than his earlier collections, too, Macaws takes prolonged and deliberate aim at a personal bugbear: the inanities of the world. It is to Densley's credit that by the collection's end, what might seem individual or idiosyncratic takes on universal resonance.' (Introduction)
